School Days & Love
by Yamato's Tiger Lily
Summary: Ichimatsu, a previous delinquent, returns to his old all-boys school as the new school nurse. All he wants to do is stay in his office and sleep the lazy school days away. Jyushimatsu is a freshman who rules his gang with a quiet force - but he gets hurt on the first day of school.
1. Prologue

**School Days & Love**

 **Prologue**

When Ichimatsu opened the door, now as the school nurse instead, there was an onslaught of familiar sights and sounds that hit him all at once.

He had grown, quite a bit, since the last time he was even in this office. He barely remembered the old school nurse when he attended, but he remembered the white sheer curtains. He wouldn't take it down. He remembered the way too sterilized environment whenever he stepped in. He would keep up the image. He knew all about image. He remembered his old image.

The school still was an all-boy school, a tradition that started to change in recent schools but, for some reason, never changed here. He didn't question it. It was okay with him. There wasn't a need to change tradition since so many schools had already gone co-ed.

The newly appointed school nurse took the time to look around. He remembered when he was a student, rather, a delinquent. His head had been shaved and modified his looks to presumably look scarier. He also used to speak in actual gibberish – nothing defined and he somehow rose in the ranks of the Cat Burglars, the name of his little gang, with his garbled speech.

His memory of the place would've easily embarrassed most people of their high school selves but Ichimatsu didn't feel that bad towards himself. He had his fun when he was young and had made great friends. Granted, he made stupid decisions as teenagers were wont to do and fought for little to no reason.

He chuckled as he fiddled with his tie. The tie itself was given to an old comrade of his from those days. It was a dark purple tie with a skull and crossbones. From what he could tell, the school had cleaned up from its previous image – now the students seemed like even though they were lower income, they wanted the prestige of a private school. They were actually studious, although it seemed that the tradition of the delinquents seemed to be picking up again. He could tell that some of the students were uncomfortable with his tie, especially since he walked down the familiar hallway towards the infirmary.

He couldn't help but find amusement with that. He really shouldn't since he's a respectable adult now. After he found his will to study, he studied extremely hard. Eventually, he got rid of his facial markings and grew out his hair – to hide the scars that remained. He still wasn't truly used to having hair back on his head again, thus it was always messy but he tried to style it at least.

He often wondered if the students today could tell he used to be a delinquent. Unless he lifted his newly grown hair, no one would be able to tell. He laughed at the thought. He wanted to have an image of a kind, but sort of lazy, nurse who worked in the silence in the corner of Akatsuka High School.

He didn't expect anyone on the first day of school. The opening ceremony had ended and all he wanted to do was settle in his new office.

He walked around the infirmary as he reminisced. Once he made it to the window, he opened it and took in the cool air that had both the coldness of the remaining winter and the dawn of new beginnings. He closed his eyes as he didn't expect the wind to blow through his face but he also didn't hear the sound of the door opening behind him.


	2. Chapter One

**School Days & Love**

 **Chapter One**

Ichimatsu managed to close the window but some of the pollen from outside had gotten in his eyes – he had to shut his eyes and wipe it off. He didn't ignore the person who had just came in, but he assumed it was a student.

"Hey, whoever that is, just go sit down, okay?" The nurse reached in his pocket and grabbed his glasses. He realized as he had gotten older, his eyesight had gotten worse. He believed he had astigmatism which caused him to be near sighted. Often, he'd forget to put on his glasses and he'd hate the idea of poking his eyes in order to put on contacts. With the familiar clink of his glasses, as well as the familiar weight, he could feel himself feel a bit better from the sudden wind.

He heard the familiar sound of someone sitting on one of the beds as he made their way towards them. There was a curtain which purposefully blocked the beds from the sun as the infirmary was at such in an unfortunate area of the school.

He casually walked around and saw a student. The student himself seemed very tan and muscular – the sleeves of his uniform had clearly been ripped to show off his muscles. His collar stood up tall and covered his nose but he could seemingly still breathe okay. The hat that rested on his head was tattered up but it still seemed to fit the young man. Around his neck, he wore what appeared to be giant Buddhist prayer beads but he wasn't sure. He wasn't all that spiritual himself so maybe he could've been wrong. It didn't matter.

Blood seemed to come from his arms and wrists and Ichimatsu sighed as he looked at him. He wasn't stupid as he remembered these type of kids back in his own delinquent days. He sighed again as he put on his adult face. He instinctively patted down his growing bangs, where his facial markings used to be.

Even though Ichimatsu could feel the stare of the student, he never flinched. He gently grabbed the wounded student and assessed it as best as he could. When he turned to get the peroxide, the gauze, and other miscellaneous items he needed, he could feel the young man's stare growing in deeper and deeper.

It didn't matter what the student thought at him. He felt himself grow tired and the need for him to nap grew along with it. When he made it back to the student, he avoided his gaze. He could feel his eyes drooping as he tended to the wounds. From what he could tell, they were fairly deep cuts from a box cutter. He didn't sigh; there were no sudden movements. The stare still followed him around – although he didn't mind it. He wasn't there to hurt the teen further; he wanted to do his job and take care of his wounds.

There was a comfortable silence between the two and soon enough the nurse finished tending to his quiet patient.

When he finished, he looked up at the student and gave him a smile. "There you go. All set."

Silence.

The teen continued to stare at him.

 _Strange; for a delinquent, he sure is quiet._ Ichimatsu couldn't help but wonder about the student before him. He glanced at his watch to check the time and noticed it was getting close to lunch time. He glanced back to the student, with the smile on his face still.

"It looks like it's getting close to lunch time," Ichimatsu pointed out. He chuckled. "I didn't expect anyone to come in today, especially on the day of the opening ceremony."

Still, the teen stared.

Now, he felt self-conscious. "Ahh…" he nervously said. "Well, looks like we're done. Go back out there. You don't want to be in the infirmary forever, do you? I'm rather boring and all I want to do is nap." He chuckled at the end of his statement to help ease the tension. The teen's face seemed to shift but it was unfamiliar to the nurse. He shrugged it off mentally. He just hoped he didn't just incite a delinquent's anger.

"Promise me I won't see you back in here for the remainder of the semester." He gave the teen a mischievous smirk. Again, another shift in the teen's expression that he couldn't read. Before Ichimatsu could say anything more, the two heard a sudden "meow" coming from a pretty close point of view.

 _Shit, I forgot to close the window!_ Ichimatsu thought to himself as he turned around towards the source of the sound that suddenly surprised him. When he turned around, he saw a cat on his desk, as it settled onto whatever documents he forgot to put away, and he automatically smiled at the hungry stray.

The cat itself seemed to be an orange cat and seemed a bit stubby. He couldn't help but chuckle in a low voice. Personally, he would consider himself a fan of cats but most people would call him a fanatic. It didn't matter. He adored cats and they seemed to return the affection.

He immediately turned his attention towards the cat and ignored the now confused teenager whose expression seemed to shift once more. He petted the cat behind the ear and the cat purred audibly. He mumbled to it and seemed to ignore the world around him – to Ichimatsu, it was just him and the cat.

However, once again, a sudden noise echoed in the infirmary and Ichimatsu immediately turned and immediately grimaced.

"Ah~!" A voice echoed in the room which scared the cat. It jumped away and made a mess of his documents and papers floated everywhere around the persons in the room. "There you are, my dear!" The English made him irrationally annoyed.

The owner of the voice seemed to be another teacher. His hair was combed with his hangs pointing upwards – clearly gelled and covered in moose; the smell nearly overwhelmed him on top of whatever cologne he covered himself in. Despite the smell and him bursting inside the room, Ichimatsu did take careful notice on how well this man dressed as a teacher. He had a silk button down shirt that the collar stuck out with a couple buttons undone. Granted, that look suited the man somehow and made him attractive.

The man walked in with unnecessary flair, flair that didn't belong in a high school. It annoyed Ichimatsu a little more than it really should. He ignored Ichimatsu's glares and, even, his presence as he zoned in on the student who still sat on the bed.

"Oh my little Jyushimatsu~! I was wondering where you've gone! It seems you've gotten patched up by our dear school nurse!" With English mixed in here and there, Ichimatsu had a little trouble catching up with what the man had just said – he couldn't imagine how confused the student would've been.

He turned and finally noticed the nurse who hunched over, a terrible habit he's had since his delinquent days. Ichimatsu couldn't help but flinch at being pulled into the spotlight suddenly. "Thank you so much for taking care of my little Jyushimatsu! I don't believe we've properly met. I've seen you with the other staff on stage. Allow me to introduce myself." Again, the random English put him off a little bit. "My name is Karamatsu-sensei. I'm the English teacher here at this darling school~! I just came back from America after a year off. And whom might you be?"

For some reason, Ichimatsu couldn't help but stammer. Eventually, he found his words after he cleared his throat.

"M-my name is Ichimatsu. I'm the new school nurse." He extended his hand to shake his hand, as that's what he remembered what Americans did to greet each other. He figured he probably preferred that method instead of the usual greeting. "Nice to meet you, I suppose."

The need for a nap simply grew during this interaction. The man himself wasn't too bad but he could feel himself lessen in energy.

"I hope we become great and dear friends! If you need to, I shall teach you some English for some of our foreign students~! My door is always open to you!" He grabbed Ichimatsu's extended hand with both of his hands and shook it with such ferver that Ichimatsu felt his glasses shake off his nose and he was just taken aback at this man's energy.

He soon let go of the nurse's hand patted the student, named Jyushimatsu, on the shoulder. "Let us go, dear Jyushimatsu." The teen had gotten up and Ichimatsu had finally seen the extent of the teen's height although it seemed Ichimatsu could still look at him in the eye. The teen's expression was more neutral, though maybe annoyed, as he slowly left the office.

The teacher had left first as he sang a song that was unfamiliar to Ichimatsu who was soon followed by the student and he was relieved. He pulled out the chair and sat down and exhaled. He closed his eyes as sleepiness started to take over. Though… Ichimatsu couldn't help but feel a set of eyes after him.

 **To Be Continued**


	3. Chapter Two

**School Days & Love**

 **Chapter Two**

After he let out his tired sigh, he started to reflect on what had just happened. It had been only the day of the opening ceremony and already his office was annoyingly busy. Granted, he should've expected this to happen with a school of its reputation. He couldn't help but laugh as he brought himself forward.

The young tanned teen who appeared in his office and stared at him deeply… the noisy English teacher who irritated Ichimatsu more than he cared to admit flashed in his memory as he tried to piece together the confidence to get through the semester. Already, he was tired of the situation at hand. He didn't know what he signed up for, truly.

 _Did my previous school nurse put up with this crap?_ Ichimatsu thought bitterly as he placed his arms on his desk, then his head on top of it. He could feel the cool and warm spring air envelope around him and it eventually lulled him to sleep. He could've sworn he felt something small and warm lie down next to his head but he ignored it. It was too comfortable to think about otherwise.

It didn't take long for his eyes to feel heavy; he'd been feeling sleepy all that morning. Even as an adult, he had trouble waking up early in the morning. He questioned why he had the job in the first place until this particular moment. He felt the cool desk against his warm body; it sent shivers down his spine. Although, the shivers were more relaxing and warm than cold. It felt nice.

His heavy eyes finally closed to the world of lights and instead joined the darkness of sleep. In other stories, this would've been a cue for nightmares or prophetic dreams and yet for someone as simple as the newly appointed school nurse Ichimatsu, it didn't frighten him. Instead, it welcomed him as in his dreams, the world were cats. There was no such thing as a cruel fate as cat allergies; everyone lived as simply as his precious friends, the cats.

Ichimatsu was a regular purple cat who had a coat that fit his little body as well as a little stethoscope to prove that, indeed, he's a nurse. He would wander around the school full of cats, instead of troublesome and complicated humans. The only thing he recalled in this dream of his was going to get something to eat and noticing a familiar red tail. It didn't trouble him because he knew whose tail that belonged to. He continued to wander until he suddenly felt something really cold against his human skin.

Because he was surprised, he reluctantly opened his eyes to see a cold, sweating water bottle next to his head. He could feel a headache forming because of his sudden awake back to reality.

"Heh, Mom was right," a familiar voice rang out and it took time before Ichimatsu processed on who it was.

"Oh…Osomatsu." Ichimatsu said simply as he sat up. As it turned out, it was his nephew Osomatsu. The teen is fat and the uniform still somehow fit him pretty well. He had a goofy smile on his face and he laughed. As he laughed, he rubbed the area under his nose with his index finger, a trait he must've picked up from his mother. "It's just you. What are you doing here?" Ichimatsu absent-mindedly asked.

"Eh, did you forget, uncle? I'm a freshman here now!" He announced with a hint of annoyance behind his voice.

Ichimatsu tried to recall his sister telling him about meeting Osomatsu at the school but he must've gave either a blank or uninterested face because it seemed to annoy the chubby teen a lot.

"How can you forget about your own nephew?!" He yelled at the uncle but he eventually cleared his throat and calmed down. "An-anyway, Mom wanted me to give you lunch since she was insistent. She kept saying that you'll forget and that you'll be busier napping than actually doing work. Plus, she thought you wouldn't remember your lunch." He continued to laugh.

Ichimatsu thought about it for a moment.

"She's right. I didn't bring a lunch. Tell her thanks," Ichimatsu said as he gave his energetic nephew a small appreciative smile. He wondered why Osomatsu would bother with him since he was always much more social than the adult. "So how's the opening ceremony? Did you find your class yet?"

Osomatsu stayed silent and seemed to ignore the question. "Yeah," he laughed a little uneasy now. "Well, you know Mom! She's always right even when I think she's not." He seemed to be a little sad about something but Ichimatsu didn't want to trouble the teen.

"Well, so long as you keep up your studies, you can come in here to relax whenever you want." Ichimatsu told him. He didn't know exactly what the teen was going through but he figured Osomatsu could use the extra knowledge knowing he had a safe haven at the school. From what his mother had told him, he wasn't entirely sure if Osomatsu was bullied or not – but she had reminded him that morning to keep an extra eye out for him. Even if she hadn't told him, Ichimatsu would've offered the empty space for him; he wished he had the same extended to him so he could've chilled out more but that was the past.

"Why don't you sit here and enjoy lunch with your uncle?" Ichimatsu offered. He pointed to one of the chairs that were strewn in the room. Osomatsu's expression lightened up and nodded. His smile came back and grabbed the chair and sat adjacent to the nurse.

The two enjoyed their simple lunches of rice, eggs, and sausages as well as little vegetables Osomatsu's mother had kindly made for the two.

Ichimatsu tried to avoid talks about school or dealing with other students since he noticed his expression earlier. Instead, they'd talk about things that interested him such as games and maybe some anime that he still watched at this age. He didn't understand it but that was okay. There were plenty of things Ichimatsu didn't understand in this world but he wanted to see his nephew happier. He wished he knew what bothered him but if Osomatsu didn't want to open up, he wouldn't pry.

 _Adults are so quick to forget what it was like being a teenager._ Ichimatsu thought as he laughed at Osomatsu's pun.

Eventually, the teen had to leave. Osomatsu took Ichimatsu's bento box as the two said their goodbyes.

At first, Ichimatsu was annoyed being woke up in such a way, but after lunch and after he talked to his nephew, he felt a bit more energetic. He was sure that he would want to take a nap again later but for now, he was energized with food and water in his belly.

With renewed energy, he decided instead of opening the window, he'd just take a look outside of what's to come. Very soon, he saw a bunch of cats walking together around the school yard. This helped him relax more as he knew that, based on his experience, if his precious friends were together like this, everything this semester will go as lazily as he hopefully hoped.


End file.
